Missing Bach Compositions Presented for First-Ever Performance in 320 Years
Newly discovered organ works by the renowned composer Bach have been unveiled and played in the central European country for the initial occasion in three hundred twenty years.
The country's Minister of Culture the cultural official labeled the discovery of the two pieces a "great moment for the world of music".
They originally drew interest of Peter Wollny in the early nineties when he was cataloguing historical musical documents at the Brussels archive.
The organ works - the Chaconne in D minor and G minor Chaconne - were dating unknown and without attribution. The scholar spent the following three decades working to verify the authorship of the pieces.
Memorable Concert
They were performed at the historic Leipzig church in the eastern German municipality, where the composer is laid to rest and where he worked as a music director for twenty-seven years.
The two pieces were played by organist from the Netherlands the musical performer, who said he was proud to be able to play them for the first time in over three centuries.
He said the works were "remarkably sophisticated" and would be "a valuable resource for modern musicians, as they are also well-suited for smaller organs".
Musical Importance
They are believed to have been created early in Bach's career, when he was employed as an organ instructor in the municipality of the Thuringian town in Thuringia.
The researcher, who is now the director of the Bach Archive in Leipzig, said they displayed several features distinctive to the composer.
"Stylistically, the pieces also contain aspects that can be identified in Bach's compositions from that era, but not in those of any other composer," he said.
They are believed to have been recorded in 1705 by a student of Bach, the musical student.
At a revealing of the works, the researcher said he was "virtually certain that Bach had written the pair of works" and they have now been incorporated into the authoritative listing of his musical output.
- European Culture
- German Heritage
- Classical music
- Musical Arts